French officials ban
access to sacred mountain which believers claim
will be refuge from 'Mayan apocalypse on December
21'

Rumours say the mountain will burst
open on December 21 to reveal an alien spaceship
which
will save those nearby from the apocalypse

French
police will control access to the mountain
and village to stop expected hordes of New
Age
fanatics, sightseers and journalists

December
21 is the estimated end of the Mayan long
calendar, which some believes marks the
end of the world as we know it

Alarm
of a Mayan-predicted doomsday on December
21 has led French police to ban access to
a southwestern mountain from doomsday preppers,
New Agers and even journalists. The mountain,
called Pic de Bugarach, is thought to open
up on that day uncovering an alien spaceship
that will carry humans to safety.

According to the Daily
Mail, French officials
have banned access to the mountain and have
stationed a hundred police and firefighters
to monitor the tiny village at the foot of
the mountain by the same name. The
Guardian reported that the French government's sect-watchdog,
called the Miviludes, is also monitoring
the village to prevent "any apocalyptic
sect activity, or ritualized suicide by doomsday
cults."
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Bugarach village mayor Jean-Pierre Delord
told the Guardian, "This is the 183rd
end-of-the-world prophecy since antiquity.
But I can't take the risk of a lot of people
coming here, trying to climb the mountain and
getting hurt."

However, some are skeptical of the government's
true reasons behind guarding the mountain.
Patrice Etienne, a civil servant from Nice,
told the Guardian, "Why come to the only
place on earth that will be spared the apocalypse
if you want to commit suicide? Wouldn't that
be a bit like trying to drown yourself wearing
a lifejacket?"

Speculation over the end of the Earth have
been based on the Mayan calendar, which is
set to end its thirteenth 394-year cycle, called
baktuns, on December 21. According to conspiracy
theorists, the Mayans predicted astronomical
disasters that would destroy the Earth.

According to the Daily Mail, the Guatemalan
culture ministry will be holding a massive
event in the capital on December 21 in case
the world does end, prompting tour groups to
promote doomsday-themed getaways to the small
Central American country. However, the event
has prompted backlash from the country's Maya
alliance Oxlaljuj Ajpop, which accuses the
government of promoting the myth.